[kictanet] The Vatican's online initiatives reaching out during the 43rd World Communications Day

[Peter Ojiambo]

Hi avid readers,

 

 

Thought this maybe of interest.

 

 

Pope2You: Vatican Launches IPhone and Facebook Apps - By Frederic Lardinois

The Catholic Church isn't exactly know for its speedy adoption of new
technologies, but today the Vatican launched
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/22/AR200905220
0949.html>  a new web portal <http://www.pope2you.net> , as well as a
Facebook app to coincide with the upcoming 43rd World Communications Day. In
addition, the Vatican also announced an iPhone application. The iPhone
application has not been approved by Apple yet, (even the Vatican's apps
gets scoured for porn and profanities, we assume), but the Facebook app
<http://apps.facebook.com/popetoyou/>  is available now. 

 

None of these apps look to be groundbreaking in either design or
functionality. The iPhone/iPod touch app, once approved, will give users the
ability to watch videos and hear speeches by Pope Benedict XVI, as well as
other content from Catholic events worldwide. 

 

The Facebook app, which is currently loading very slowly, is also not
exactly the most groundbreaking app either. Facebook users will be able to
send and receive 20 different virtual postcards of the pope, with texts
available in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish (with Latin being
conspicuously absent here). According to the app's description, installing
it will allow you to "Spread friendship with the Pope and become a witness
of Christ in the world through the web."

 

In January this year, the Vatican also launched
<http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/pope_in_a_box_the_vatican_on_youtube.p
hp>  its YouTube channel <http://www.youtube.com/user/vatican> , though so
far, none of the videos posted there have gone viral yet.

 

For now, however, users who were hoping to get a chance to poke the pope or
even just friend him on Facebook are out of luck, as the pope does not have
an official Facebook profile, yet.

 

Looking forward to Kenyan IT developers and enthusiasts following suite in
and using social media and the internet applications in the same way. What
do you guys think?

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